The Cavern Read online

  “You don’t have to do this. You’ve got kids, and besides, you’re too big for a tunnel rat.”

  “Fuck off, Jack. I’m not leaving you without backup.”

  He and Dean had returned from war to a town gripped by fear as children disappeared one after another. From his father’s experiences in the mine, he knew what hunted them. Jack had racked his brains for a better plan than chasing the monster into its home without success, and as the only soldiers in town, there was no one better suited to take on the beast.

  It wasn’t the first time he’d fought underground. Being one of the smaller men in his platoon, it had often fallen to him to play the role of ‘Tunnel Rat’. Armed with nothing more than a hand torch, .45 handgun and knife, he’d crawled into the pitch black Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietcong time and again, never sure what he would come up against. Snake, scorpion, booby-traps, enemy soldier. He’d encountered all of them at different times, and somehow survived to fight another day.

  Jack grimaced. Although he’d fought in the depths of the earth before, it didn’t mean he fucking liked it.

  A noise caught his attention. “Did you hear that?” Jack paused, head cocked to the side, listening. The echoing footsteps of a child came from behind.

  “Daddy, is that you?” asked a little voice from the dark.

  “Jesus, no,” said Dean under his breath. Jack aimed his torch back down the tunnel, and picked up a boy’s face in the gloom.

  “Archie? What the hell are you doing here? I told you to stay with Karen. Your sister’s going to be beside herself when she realises you’re missing.”

  The boy came forward, eyes bright now that he’d found his father. “But I wanted to come on the adventure!”

  Dean gripped his son’s upper arm, worry plain on his face. “No, it’s too dangerous. You’re going home. Now.” He turned to Jack. “We’ve got to call this off and get him back.”

  Jack nodded, part of him glad to have an excuse for retreat. “We’ll start the hunt again tomorrow.” He stepped around his mate and kid to take point on their return, and then pulled up short again.

  A run of clicks. Different this time. Not the sounds of a child’s feet.

  Shit.

  Jack unholstered his handgun, chambered a round and thumbed off the safety. With his other hand, he aimed his torch ahead. At the limit of its beam, stood a figure. His balls clenched upward, hair prickling along the nape of his neck. Four elliptical green eyes observed them with cold malice as a circular mouth of needle sharp teeth opened, pink tongue flicking out to taste the air.

  “Contact,” he said, voice loud in the confines of the tunnel. He dropped to a kneeling stance and squeezed off a shot.

  The creature darted to the side as he pulled the trigger, bullet sparking off rock where it had stood a split second beforehand. The beast dived into an impossibly narrow crack, body deforming to fit as if it lacked solid bones. Jack followed its movement, shooting twice more, the last bullet catching the end of its tail. A spray of fluorescent green blood spattered on the wall as the beast screamed.

  Dean scooped up his son with one arm, holding Archie’s body tight as the boy sobbed in terror. Jack hesitantly went for a closer look at the opening in the wall.

  “How did it get in there?” asked Dean. “I couldn’t squeeze my fist into that crack, let alone my whole body.”

  Jack fingered one side of the space where pale-green blood rolled in wet drops to the ground. No wonder the Miner’s Mother had successfully stalked prey underground and moved between the mine and cave systems.

  A deep rumble sounded from the rock above their head. Jack looked up at the roof, his gut dropping as he saw cracks spread in a spider web across the ceiling.

  “Cave in!”

  He grabbed hold of Dean’s shirt and yanked him and his boy backward, deeper into the tunnel. An enormous crack boomed like the earth’s bones were fracturing as the first boulder dropped from the ceiling, landing right where Jack had been standing moments before. The men scrambled further back as the rest of the ceiling collapsed, filling the passage bottom to top in a mess of rock and dirt.

  Jack climbed back to his feet, coughing as he pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose in an attempt to filter the billowing dust. All three bled from myriad tiny cuts and gashes caused by flying rock chips.

  “How the hell are we supposed to get out of here now?” asked Dean, kicking the rubble in anger.

  Jack coughed, eyes red and streaming from the dust. “We need to find another route to the surface.”

  He stared at the crack in the wall. If the Miner’s Mother could move between different mines and cave systems, maybe they could too.

  “Half these mines are connected, tunnels knocking into each other between different claims. If we can find one of those breaches, we’ll have a chance of making it out.”

  Dean met his gaze, and he could tell by his mate’s expression he knew their chances of escaping were virtually non-existent. But that wasn’t the same as impossible, and he’d be damned if he was going to sit down and give up without a fight.

  Jack turned to their only option, a route that would take them deeper into the beast’s lair.

  ***

  Archie whimpered in his dad’s arms as a snarl echoed along the tunnel. The beasts were always just out of sight, following them deeper into the mine like wolves in the dark. Their tunnel snaked downward, the few branching options all continuing deeper into the earth, forcing them to trust blind luck in their choices.

  “Maybe we should backtrack, try one of those other tunnels we passed,” said Dean.

  Jack had been thinking the same thing himself for the last half hour. He glanced up the tunnel from where they’d come, listening to the demonic growls and slavering noises that echoed from its reaches. To go back meant taking on the beasts. With Archie in their care, he and Dean had elected to try and avoid outright battle with the creatures, but achieving that seemed an ever more unlikely option.

  “You take the kid further down the tunnel around the next corner. I’m going to wait here for them, see if I can’t clear us a path back the way we came.”

  Dean met his eye, jaw tight as he nodded. Archie buried his face into his father’s shoulder as Dean carried him onward, feet clumping noisily with each step to help fool the creatures.

  Jack crept quietly to the side of the tunnel and knelt. When they sounded close enough, he’d turn back on the light and attack while they were blinded. He switched his torch off, the surrounding world blinking out as dark smothered all. Jack raised his pistol in a double handed grip, torch in the bottom hand, aimed in the direction of the approaching beasts. Metallic snarls echoed, bouncing off the walls about him, becoming louder with every passing moment. God how he hated the waiting before an ambush. Jack’s heart galloped, breath tight in his chest, just wanting the fight to begin.

  Abruptly, the growls and snarling yips of the beasts cut out. Silence. He strained to hear any movement, trying to make out any noise above the thumping within his ears of his own pulse.

  A slight scratch of nail on rock, the barest whisper of noise.

  Shit. He’d left the torch off for too long. They were almost on him. Jack switched on his torch, light cutting harsh against the rock walls. Four of the creatures were now in the tunnel with him, the lead hunter less than two metres away. Not as large as the initial beast, these ones were smaller. Bent over on hands and feet as they stalked him, they were the size of a large hound, serpent’s tails stretching out another body length behind were held stiff with excitement.

  His gut clenched, the urge to run almost overwhelming. The creature closest to him bared its teeth, elliptical pupils constricting in the torch beam. Its muscles tensed, then it leapt, jaw wide. Jack instinctively jerked up his pistol, the tip of its barrel stabbing straight into the beast’s open mouth. Needle teeth grated on the steel as he pulled the trigger. Green blood exploded from the rear of the creature’s head, but Jack had no time to celebrate.
He was hit again, this time from his left side, teeth locking onto his upper arm. Jack screamed as he staggered back against the wall under its weight. In his peripheral vision he could see the last two pacing back and forth, readying themselves to join the attack. He was going to be overwhelmed, torn apart like a rabbit by a pack of mongrels.

  The beast latched onto his arm twisted and wrenched at him, driving its teeth in deeper. Jack drove the end of his pistol into it and fired again, the bullet tearing through one of its thighs. It screamed, high pitched metallic anger and surprise, releasing the grip on his arm. Jack staggered back, using the beast’s momentary confusion to escape.

  He sprinted down the tunnel, following it blindly in the direction Dean and his son had retreated minutes earlier. Around the next bend the man-made tunnel finished, opening into a great cavern and the start of a natural cave system.

  Ahead, feet splashed into water. Jack’s eyes tracked to the sound and saw that Dean and his son were standing ankle deep. Shit. It was a dead end. The cavern was blocked by an underground lake. They’d have to hope for another passage branching off somewhere further along the shoreline or there’d be no choice but to backtrack.

  His left arm was virtually useless. The creature had bitten a circular chunk of flesh from his bicep and now blood oozed with every movement, coating the limb in a glutinous layer of crimson. He knew he was running low on ammunition, his last magazine already loaded and partially spent. If they didn’t find a way out soon, they were goners.

  Jack joined the others at the edge of the lake. “There were four of the bastards. I took one, maybe two of them out, but they’ll be on us again soon,” he panted, face grey with the pain of his wound.

  Dean put down his son and Archie held onto his father’s thigh from behind. The boy was mute, eyes wide, skin blanched with fear. Dean held the sawn-off shotgun, a grim expression creased into his brow as he flicked off the safety. “Here’s as good as anywhere to make a stand.”

  Not like we have a bloody choice. Jack gave a stiff nod of agreement. “It’ll do.”

  A series of clicks and taps issued from the tunnel. The sequence was answered from a different direction as the beasts coordinated their pending attack in pitch black. Jack’s gut tightened, spit turning to glue in his mouth as adrenaline surged, knowing they would be hit any moment.

  He looked to the side, tracing the edge of the underground lake. One end of the shore ended in a rock wall. He changed direction, searching the other way and found in this direction, the shore continued until it became lost in gloom beyond the extent of their torches.

  A high pitched scream tore the air, a sound of pure rage bouncing off the walls and roof of the cavern, smashing into his eardrums painfully. His chest constricted, muscles buzzing with adrenaline.

  Jack and Dean turned to face the attack, weapons raised. Darkness seemed to twist and ooze from the tunnel mouth as two of the creatures emerged, bodies soaking up light like a black hole. From an oddly humanoid appearance standing on legs, each dropped forward onto hands as they broke into a sprint, powerful tails swaying behind, jaws open with needle teeth exposed as they attacked.

  Jack tracked the one to his right for a split second, then fired twice in rapid succession. He saw the beast flinch as one of his bullets punched home, then it was on him, smashing into his chest to knock him backwards. Jack drove the pistol into its chest and squeezed the trigger. The beast screamed as his bullet ripped through its torso, and then Jack’s magazine was empty. The Miner’s Mother writhed in agony, contorting in impossible shapes in the dust of the cavern, green blood splattering as it screamed and died.

  Jack turned his attention to his mate, unsheathing his combat knife from his waist. Archie stood on his own, frozen with fear as his father thrashed on the floor with another beast. He dove forward to help, stabbing deep into the abdomen of the monster, then driving the point of his blade upwards into the chest cavity.

  Dean pushed the twitching corpse off. The darkness within the cavern was almost complete as the men regained their feet. Jack’s torch lay on the rocks, bulb smashed during the fight, while Dean’s light was fading, batteries nearing the end of their life.

  “How many of the Mothers are left?” asked Dean, his hand searching his son’s body for wounds as he talked.

  Jack’s eyes skirted the floor, the humps of the dead beasts blending into the darkness almost perfectly. He walked to the first corpse, nudging it with his toe just to be sure. “Including the one I took out in the tunnel, that’s three confirmed kills. Can’t be many more of them.”

  “Daddy!” screamed Archie.

  Jack’s head jerked up to see the boy pointing at his father, eyes bugged with terror.

  Dean was knee deep in water, transfixed. A large Miner’s Mother held him pinned from behind, talons deep within his gut as it sunk a mouthful of fangs into the side of his neck. Jack went for his gun by instinct, before remembering it was empty. With knife in hand he lurched into action, but with metres separating him and his mate, there was nothing he could do to stop the creature tearing a great lump of tissue from Dean’s throat. Arterial blood jetted from his severed carotid artery in rhythmic spurts as it dragged him into the water. With great sweeps of its tail, the beast powered away with its prey held fast, and dived.

  Jack stood dumbfounded, a gentle sloshing of water against the shore the only evidence of the battle. He felt a gentle tug on his hand and glanced down to see Archie holding onto his fingers, silent tears streaming down his face. It was enough to knock him from inertia.

  He needed to make the most of the time Dean had bought with his death. Jack snatched the dying torch off the ground and with Archie’s hand tight in his grasp, marched for the far side of the room, not daring to hope. Darkness retreated before his torch, and then his breath caught in the back of his throat.

  An opening.

  A passage that seemed to be tilting upwards. With renewed vigour he took off, dragging the child in his wake. The two moved onwards, intermittently walking and jogging. After some time, he heard a staccato of tapping and felt his heart drop.

  No…

  Turning around he shined the weakened torch backwards. Dean stood there, one arm stretched out toward his son.

  “Daddy! You’re okay!” yelped Archie.

  Caught off guard by the unexpected visage of his mate, Jack failed to get a hand onto the small boy before he darted away.

  “Archie! No, it’s not your father!”

  The boy skidded to a halt, finally sensing that something wasn’t right. Dean leant down, scooping the boy off the ground in both arms, talon like fingers tightening on the child’s arms until he whimpered. Archie was wriggling now, trying to get away, kicking and thrashing. Held in front of the monster’s face the child screamed as the visage of his father deformed and changed. The Miner’s Mother camouflage fell away, needle-rimmed mouth protruding outwards. Archie screamed, shrill and desperate, a sound that tore a chunk from Jack’s soul.

  The torch battery finally gave out, plunging the tunnel to darkness. Jack froze, gripping his knife tight, refusing to run but unsure where to attack, knowing that if he stabbed blindly, he was just as likely to penetrate Archie’s body as the monster. The boy’s scream abruptly cut off, his wail replaced by the sound of wet crunching as the creature began to feed.

  A sob tore from Jack’s throat at his failure. He knew the child was dead. His best mate, slaughtered.

  Jack forced himself to crawl away, abandoning the child’s body. Told himself the only thing that mattered now was surviving to exact a future revenge. He couldn’t fight without light or weapons, needed to return to the surface so he could rearm to re-join the battle a second time and finish what he’d started.

  He found himself on the smooth floor of a carved opal tunnel that sloped upward. Dim light was blinding after hours in absolute darkness. An involuntary sob tore from his throat as he began to climb back to the surface.

  ***

  “Did you
go back down?” asked Kaz.

  Jack didn’t meet her eyes, instead he stared steadfastly at the carpet. “I tried to find her again. I swear I did.”

  Kaz shook her head, disgust on her face. “You never returned, did you? Pathetic coward.”

  Jack’s head jerked up at the accusation, eyes narrowing in anger. “I’ve fought Vietcong underground where other soldiers refused to go, and I chased that demon through the bowels of the earth to protect this town. I’m no fucking coward, girl.”

  “Then why is the Miner’s Mother still a problem? Why’s she escalating again?”

  “I went down three more times and never made contact again. The creatures went quiet. After that, I hoped maybe the last one had died from a wound, and when there were no further disappearances – my hope grew.” Jack turned to the side, face screwing up like he wanted to spit. “Unfortunately, I was wrong.

  “But just because they’re hunting again, doesn’t mean we should serve the meal. Those cavers’ lives are in your hands. Will you block access to the cave system or not?”

  Kaz’s chin jutted forward in defiance. “Your story only proved that fighting the Miner’s Mother will end in failure.”

  “Then I’ll stop them myself,” muttered Jack.

  “No, you will not,” said Kaz. On cue, her brother stood and pressed Jack back into his chair.

  “You’re not going anywhere, old man,” said the cop. Trevor wrenched the barman’s hands behind his back, and restrained them with a large zip-tie. He repeated the procedure at Jack’s ankles, trapping them against the chair legs so he couldn’t move.

  Kaz bent over him, bringing her face close. “You had your chance and failed. Now we’re going to do it my way. It’s nearly matched the kill number from the seventies, and I think it’ll stop after that. Forty years of peace was won by my father and brother’s sacrifice. Once it’s fed on the cavers, I’m sure a similar reprieve will be granted again.” She stood and turned for the door. “But until then, stay put and keep your nose out of it.”